A Houston man planned to join the Islamic State – then he changed his mind. Should he go to prison?

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A young man from the Houston suburb of Spring considered joining the Islamic State. Asher Abid Khan even went as far as flying to Turkey before changing his mind and returning home. Now he faces 30 years in prison.

Should he?

That’s the question the Washington Post asked Sunday in a lengthy and intriguing look on how the U.S. handles supporters of radical Islam, who changed their mind. The 2013 Klein Oak High school graduate is charged with conspiracy and providing support to the Islamic terrorist group.

Writes the Washington Post on the dilemma:

To the FBI, Khan is an unknown risk, and one that is best mitigated through prosecution. The case is emblematic of the American approach to confronting the Islamic State. While some European countries have decided to treat young radicals returning from Syria as prodigals in need of a deradicalization program of counseling, education and employment, the United States treats Islamic State recruits, even those who make it no further than an airport, as terrorism suspects.

Some 180 Americans have tried to join up with the Islamic terrorist group in Syria, intelligence officials have said. Khan headed to Syria via Istanbul in February 2014 with a friend named Sixto Ramiro Garcia, who allegedly joined the radical organization and was killed in the Middle East. However, Khan turned around after landing in Turkey.

The then-teenager’s family told Khan his mother was ill and in the hospital and that convinced Khan to come back home. But the defendant’s attorney said his client has “stepped back from an irrevocable decision and has since returned to a moderate path.” Defense attorney Thomas Berg told the Washington Post that Khan could speak at mosque’s on his misguided decision and about redemption.

Khan started taking classes at the University of Houston and delivering for Pizza Hut before the FBI learned of his trip and apparent ideological beliefs and arrested him.

The FBI disagreed that Khan had completely shed his radical past. Anonymous officials said that in the past the agency has worked “with families to prevent radicalization and criminal charges were avoided.” They say Khan’s case is different

One Islamic community leader in Houston said it’s easy to err on the side of lengthy prison sentences when the system incentivizes it.

“Nobody became a [special agent in charge] by giving a talk to parents about the dangers of getting recruited by a terrorist group,” Mustafa Tameez, who has worked with the Department of Homeland Security on countering extremists, told the Washington Post. “You make your bones by making a big arrest. We have to change the rewards system.”

See the gallery for the states where residents have been charged with providing support to ISIS.